(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information retrieval system, and more particularly, to an information retrieval system for searching a data storage section for data corresponding to a keyword supplied thereto and outputting the data.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In cases where a language is to be processed by a computer, care must be taken since the language itself may have a plurality of characters having the same meaning or indicating the same sound or even an identical character may have different forms of representation handled distinctively within a computer. The former applies, for example, to xe2x80x9chiragana charactersxe2x80x9d as opposed to xe2x80x9ckatakana charactersxe2x80x9d, and the latter applies to xe2x80x9cfull-size charactersxe2x80x9d as opposed to xe2x80x9chalf-size charactersxe2x80x9d, all used in the Japanese language.
Thus, in the case where there are a plurality of characters indicating the same sound or having the same meaning, how to handle these characters is a matter of importance. For example, where the output order of character strings derived as a result of the search of a database or the like is determined, the display results vary depending upon which characters are given priority.
Since the order of priority is determined in individual databases, a problem arises in that the display format differs from database to database, causing inconvenience.
Also, where database-related application software is ported to another OS (Operating System) or DBMS (Data Base Management System), an inconvenience arises in that search results look different, even though the application software used is the same.
Further, in the case of searching databases held by servers from a client connected to a network, it is practically difficult for the user to recognize the kind of OS or DBMS used in servers, giving rise to a problem that apparent search results vary depending on the server used.
An object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval system which ensures consistent search results even with different OSs or DBMSs.
To achieve the above object, there is provided an information retrieval system for searching a data storage section for data corresponding to a keyword supplied thereto and outputting the data. The information retrieval system comprises keyword normalizing means for normalizing a keyword supplied thereto, normalized data searching means for searching a normalized data group generated by normalizing original data by a process similar to that of the keyword normalizing means, from among data stored in the data storage section, to find normalized data corresponding to the keyword normalized by the keyword normalizing means, source data acquiring means for acquiring, from the data storage section, source data which is original data stored in association with the normalized data acquired by the normalized data searching means, sorting means for sorting the source data acquired by the source data acquiring means by looking up the corresponding normalized data, and source data supply means for supplying the source data sorted by the sorting means to a device which has requested search.